Apparatus for separating juice sacs of citrus fruits

Abstract

An apparatus for separating juice sacs of a citrus fruit, including: freezing means for freezing the citrus fruit with a cryogenic liquid refrigerant; crushing device for crushing a frozen citrus fruit; and separating device for separating juice sacs from the crushed citrus fruit.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An apparatus for separating juice sacs of a cirus fruit, comprising: freezing means for freezing the citrus fruit with a cryogenic liquid regrigerant;   crushing means for crushing the frozen citrus fruit; and   separating means for separating juice sacs from the crushed citrus fruit, wherein said freezing means comprises:   reservoir means for storing the cryogenic liquid refrigerant and for freezimg the fruit with the liquid regrigerant, the reservoir means including a first inlet for intorducing the fruit and a first outlet for discharging the frozen fruit, the first outlet being adapted to be disposed above a level of the liquid refrigerant in the reservoir means;   conveying means, mounted within the reservoir means, for conveying the introduced fruit in the liquid refrigerant for freezing and   discharging means, mounted within the reservoir means, for discharging the frozen fruit, conveyed by the coveying means, through the first outlet, wherein said conveying means comprises: a shaft substantially horizontally and rotatably supported within said reservoir means; and a screw blade spirally mounted around the shaft for conveying in the liquid refrigerant the introduced fruit to the discharging means, the screw blade having first perforations formed therethrough for allowing the liquid refrigerant to pass through the first perforations, and wherein said discharging means comprises: a plurality of scoop means for scooping the conveying fruit; and an elevator, mounted within the reservoir means, for elevating the scooping means from a first position where the conveyed fruit is scooped up with the scoop means to a second position where where the elevated fruit is discharged through the first outlet and for lowering the scooping means form the first position to the second position.   
     
     
       2. An apparatus for separating juice sacs of a citrus fruit as recited in claim 1 wherein said freezing means comprises: reservoir means for storing the cryogenic liquid refrigerant and for freezing the fruit with the liquid refrigerant, the reservoir means including a first inlet for introducing the fruit and a first outlet for discharging the frozen fruit, the first outlet being adapted to be disposed above a level of the liquid refrigerant in the reservoir means;   conveying means, mounted within the reservoir means, for conveying the introduced fruit in the liquid refrigerant for freezing and   discharging means, mounted within the reservoir means, for discharging the frozen fruit, conveyed by the conveying means, through the first outlet.   
     
     
       3. An apparatus for separating juice sacs of a citrus fruit as recited in claim 1, wherein each said scoop means comprises a tray-shaped member having second perforations for allowing the liquid refrigerant to pass through the second perforations, and wherein said elevator comprises a chain drive mechanism including a pair of inverted generally L-shaped chains disposed in parallel with each other, the chains having the tray-shaped members mounted substantially perpendicularly thereto. 
     
     
       4. An apparatus for separating juice sacs of a citrus fruit, comprising: freezing means for freezing the citrus fruit with a cryongenic liquid refrigerant;   crushing means for crushing the frozen citrus fruit; and   separating means for separating juice sacs from the crushed citrus fruit. wherein said separating means comprises:   a first casing for receiving the crushed fruit, said casing including a first inlet for introducing the crushed fruit in the casing, a first outlet for discharging unseparated juice sacs and a second outlet disposed below both the first inlet and the first outlet for discharging separated juice sacs;   a sieve, having an axis, for screening the crushed fruit into the separated juice sacs and the unseparated juice sacs, the sieve disposed within the casing to partition an interior of the casing between the first outlet and the second outlet; and   precession means, mounted on the casing, for providing a precession to the sieve about a vertical axis.   
     
     
       5. An apparatus for separating juice sacs of a citrus fruit as recited in claim 4, further comprising oscillating means, mounted on the first casing, for oscillating the sieve about the axis of the sieve. 
     
     
       6. An apparatus for separating juice sacs of a citrus fruit as recited in claim 5, wherein said crushing means comprises: a second casing having a second inlet for entering the frozen citrus fruit and a third outlet, disposed below the second inlet, for discharging the crushed citrus fruit;   a blade member mounted at one end thereof to an inner face of the second casing between the second inlet and the third outlet so as to incline to a horizontal plane for sliding the frozen citrus fruit toward the other end, the blade member having teeth formed in the other end;   a first roller member having a plurality of projections and horizontally mounted within the second casing to be rotatable about an axis thereof so that the roller member is capable of crushing the frozen fruit by the projections in cooperation with the teeth of the blade member; and   rotating means for rotating the roller member about the axis thereof so as to crush the frozen fruit with the projections and the teeth.   
     
     
       7. An apparatus for separating juice sacs of a citrus fruit as recited in claim 5, wherein said crushing means comprises: a third casing having a third inlet for entering the frozen citrus fruit and a fourth outlet for discharging the crushed citrus fruit, the fourth outlet being disposed below the third inlet;   a pair of second rollers each having axial ridges formed in peripheral faces thereof in a circumferentially equi-spaced relationship, the second rollers being horizontally and rotatably mounted within the third casing in parallel with each other for crushing the frozen fruit by cramping the frozen fruit between facing ridges of the second rollers; and   rotating means, mounted on the third casing for rotating the second rollers for cramping the crushed fruit with the facing ridges and then dropping the crushed fruit downwards.   
     
     
       8. An apparatus for separating juice sacs of a citrus fruit as recited in claim 5, wherein said crushing means comprises: a belt conveyor horizontally disposed and including an endless belt for conveying the frozen fruit;   pressing means for pressing the frozen fruit conveyed by the belt conveyer, the pressing means including a pressing member disposed above the endless belt to be movable toward and away from the endless belt for applying an impact to the conveyed fruit to crush the conveyed fruit and moving means for moving the pressing member toward and away from the endless belt.   
     
     
       9. An apparatus for separating juice sacs of a citrus fruit, comprising: freezing means for freezing the citrus fruit with a cryogenic liquid refrigerant;   crushing means for crushing the frozen citrus fruit; and   separating means for separating juice sacs from the crushed citrus fruit, wherein said crushing means comprises:   a casing having a inlet for entering the frozen citrus fruit and a outlet, disposed below the inlet, for discharging the crushed citrus fruit;   a blade member mounted at one end thereof to an inner face of the casing between the inlet and the outlet so as to incline to a horizontal plane for sliding the frozen citrus fruit toward the other end, the blade member having teeth formed in the other end;   a first roller member having a plurality of projections and horizontally mounted within the casing to be rotatable about an axis thereof so that the roller member is capable of crushing the frozen fruit by the projections in cooperation with the teeth of the blade member; and   rotating means for rotating the roller member about the axis thereof so as to crush the frozen fruit with the projections and the teeth.   
     
     
       10. An apparatus for separating juice sacs of a citrus furit, comprising: freezing means for freezing the citrus fruit with a cryogenic liquid refrigerant;   crushing means, connected in series with the freezing means, for crushing the frozen citrus fruit discharged from the freezing means; and   separating means, connected in series with the crushing means, for separating juice sacs from the crushed citrus fruit,   said freezing means including:   reservoir means for storing the cryogenic liquid refrigerant and for freezing the fruit with the liquid refrigerant, the reservoir means including a first inlet for introducing the fruit and a first outlet for discharging the frozen fruit;   screw conveying means, mounted within the reservoir means, for conveying the introduced fruit in the liquid refrigerant from the first inlet toward the first outlet; and   discharging means for discharging the frozen fruit, conveyed by the conveying means, through the first outlet, the discharging means having one end mounted within the reservoir means near the first outlet and the other end having an outlet opening arranged above the reservoir means for discharging the conveyed fruit.   
     
     
       11. An apparatus for separating juice sacs of a citrus fruit as recited in claim 10, wherein said screw conveying means comprises: a shaft substantially horizontally and rotatably supported within said reservoir means; and a screw blade spirally mounted around the shaft for conveying in the liquid refrigerant the introduced fruit to the discharging means, the screw blade having first perforations formed threthrough for allowing the liquid refrigerant to pass through the first perforations, and wherein said discharging means comprises: a plurality of scoop means for scooping the conveyed fruit; and an elevator, mounted on the reservoir means, for elevating the scooping means from a first position where the conveyed fruit is scooped up with the scoop means to a second position where the elevated fruit is discharged through the outlet opening and for lowering the scooping means from the first position to the second position.